“What was it about?” she asks.
“Oh, nothing you need worry about. Just me being paranoid, I think. What did you wish to discuss?”
“Are we able to talk freely?” she asks, looking back towards the bedroom.
“Yes, Cole sleeps like the dead,” I say. “We can go elsewhere if you prefer?”
“No, here is fine.” She undoes the scroll and lays it out on the dining table. It looks about as old as I am as I peer at it. It is written in the same text, sort of, as the Grimoire.
“What is it?”
“A prophecy,” she says, and I roll my eyes.
“Not another one? Is it about me again?”
“Yes.” She points to the top line. “This translated says that your mother is Empress of the Dragon Realms and Underworld.”
Well, we already know that.
“This,” she says pointing to the second line, “says that her daughter will be Queen and rule as one until such a time that she becomes Empress. So, that is you.”
I nod, we have obviously established that as well. Although, the thought that I would be Empress one day is something that I only thought about when we switched places with other me on board the jet.
“This third line, we were never sure what to make of it, being what you are,” she says cryptically. “But when we overheard you talking to Constantine and seeing his actions, it all became a bit clearer. You are planning to have a child with him, yes?” she whispers.
I narrow my eyes at her. “Perhaps,” I say noncommittally.
“How?” she asks, still whispering.
“Why don’t you tell me what the third line says?” I ask instead.
“Please, Aefre, can you tell me before I tell you what it says? You know that Ahmed and I know everything. About everyone. And we keep the secrets because we have been sworn to do so. Our loyalty is to you, our Queen, and your mother, The Empress. You can trust me.”
“Fine, but if this gets out, I will come for you,” I threaten her, and she bobs her head. “We are doing a Blood Magick ritual which will make him more than an ordinary Vampire. More like me. Able to reproduce.”
Her eyebrows skyrocket and I continue, “When we went to the future, they said it was working, but not quickly enough. They asked us to start it now to give them a better chance.”
“You truly believe that your sire will be able to give you a child?” she asks.
“Well, we had hoped so. Obviously, we couldn’t say for sure, until future us said it was working. That he was becoming more than an ordinary Vampire. Now, will you please tell me what this is about?”
“Aefre, if that is your plan, you must be careful. There are others in your group that are more than able to give you that without the need for magick,” she says it carefully, but I still take offense.
“I am aware of that, thank you,” I say stiffly.
“I don’t mean to upset you; I just want you to be informed.”
“Very well, please, continue.”
“The third line says that your daughter will one day be Queen and Empress and rule as her mother and grandmother did before her.”
A daughter? CK will be over the moon. “My daughter? I’m going to have a daughter?” I ask her softly.
She nods. “So it would seem. The question remains though who her father will be.”
“Yes, that seems to be a running query at the moment,” I say to her pointedly. “So, what is the problem?” I ask, not really getting the reason for all the cloak and dagger. What’s it to her if CK and I have a child or not?
She sits down and pats the chair next to her and says, “If a Shifter female mates with a different species, the child is almost always born after the father. The same with Demons. When a female Dragon mates with a different species the child is always a Dragon. Takes after the mother. Due to Tiamat’s curse, you were born a Dragon, but to human parents who, by sheer coincidence, conceived you at the exact moment your mother would have had She been able. So, your essence, as it were, was passed on to them.” She looks slightly uncomfortable talking about this and I don’t blame her. I am very uncomfortable listening to this. “You were the first, and only, human-born Dragon. This prophecy states that your daughter will be a human-born Dragon as well but with the slight difference of you carrying her.”